Seeing It Through
by Autumness
Summary: The little things that he would give her. However small, it was the thought that counts. Series of oneshots, following the episodes of Season 1.
1. S01E01: Pilot

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Mentalist.

~*~

S01E01: Pilot

It started after Mr Tolliver got shot. On that day, she got a paper crane on her desk and she knew it was from Patrick Jane who was lying on what he deemed as his couch. Who else had the time to fold origami? Frowning, she picked up the paper bird and walked towards the lazing blonde consultant. She dropped the crane into his curly hair and stomped back into her office. Patrick Jane would not be able to placate her with a paper crane. She was above that.

On her desk stood the paper crane from the day before, and next to it was an origami butterfly. She glanced out to the bullpen, no sight of the annoying blonde. Stepping out of her office, she asked Cho where Jane was. Only to get the reply "He's suspended for a month. Mandatory leave." She had forgotten that the consultant had been out on suspension by Minelli. She figured that the origami animals had to stay in her office then. At least until Jane came back. Then she'll throw them at him.

Three days into his suspension, Jane had somehow managed to slip into the CBI headquarters and into her office. It was obvious; the bright orange paper tiger was leaning on her case files. Resisting the temptation to pull her hair in frustration, she shut the door behind her and stared at the tiger. Jane had even taken time to draw the stripes and features on the paper. Personally, she liked the tiger on her wooden table. It looked so real, as real as paper tigers could seem. He must have put in a lot of effort. She paused for a second, halfway to her table. Those case files were supposed to be in her file cabinet, hiding her stash of chocolate bars. She pulled the drawer of the said file cabinet open the moment it was in her reach. Cursing, she shut it again. Jane had taken all her chocolate. Dammit.

More and more origami appeared on her table on a regular basis. And the drawer where she kept them all started to look like a zoo. Not a good thing for her, the fact that she was keeping them instead of crushing them all. She found out how the animals arrived in her office. Sometimes, he got Cho or Rigsby to put them on her desk. She knew, because she saw Rigsby sneaking into her office when she was getting coffee from the break room. Cho was blunt; he came in and passed the origami to her before walking out again. But most of the time, Jane was able to sweet talk himself into the building. So much for good security.

One more week, and her animal drawer would be emptied, preferably on an irritating blonde moron. Her hopes were dashed when she caught news that Red John had struck again, so much for having one more week of peace. Cho had called in Jane, who had went over her head and got Minelli to cancel his last week of suspension. He broke his promise of being silent and 'just watching and learning'. He managed to tick off both the rookie Agent Van Pelt and Rigby by stating that Rigby wanted to sleep with her. Jane sure knew what buttons to push to irritate someone. It must be a talent of his. Not only that, it turned out that he had already knew who was behind the killings, he knew who the copycat was but he allowed them to tear apart a family. She wondered if deep down, he did it on purpose. He carried out his plan without consulting her. He was a consultant, for God's sake. He was supposed to consult them!

So when he came up to her when everyone else was packing up, she let him know that she was still angry. Guilt was present on his face as he apologized, but she doubted it was genuine. He had a talent in lying to all of them. He placed a paper frog in front of her.

"A frog? This makes everything better, doesn't it?"

That was all she could say. Sarcasm was a talent of hers. As he walked away, the paper frog jumped up at her. He was smiling. She knew it. No way was she giving the origami back to him.

The team had taken the first flight back to Sacramento, eager to go back to headquarters and clear any outstanding work of sort. Lisbon locked herself in her office, trying to get rid of all the undone paper work sitting on her desk. Glancing up, she found the paper frog staring up at her with its drawn-on eyes. It was tempting to just reach out and crush the damn thing, she really wanted to. But her 'zoo' was lacking an amphibian exhibit, so the frog got to stay. She glanced out of her window, the sun was setting. It was end of shift. Taking her coat, she switched off her office lights and walked out to the bullpen. Cho and Rigsby were already walking to the elevator; Van Pelt had left slightly before them because her father had come down to Sacramento to visit. There he was, lying on the couch with his vest unbuttoned. He wouldn't want to go home today after the case. He would rather stay in the office than return home where his wife and daughter were murdered. This case brought back haunting memories.

She walked towards him. He was awake, and she knew. Who would suddenly smile if they were really asleep? He was such a bad actor. Stopping in front of him, she tapped his shoulder. His smile grew bigger, but his eyes remained shut.

"Get up, Jane. I know you're awake, smiling gave you away."

He opened his bright blue eyes and stretched. "Ah, Lisbon. You woke me up," Watching her roll her eyes, she sat up. "To what do I owe my undivided attention? I didn't get put on suspension again, did I?"

"I wished you were, Jane. Too bad for me, Minelli actually thinks you're useful, so he keeps you around," She looked at him. Dark rings were visible around his eyes, when was the last time he slept? She knew he had trouble sleeping, but it was hardly ever this serious. It must be the case. "It's the end of shift. Go home, Jane."

He froze while doing up his vest. Just slightly, she wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't paying such close attention to him. Home was never a good place for him, which was why he spent most of his time in the office, lazing all over his couch. She would have offered him to come over, if he wasn't Patrick Jane, that is.

"I think the security guards are tired of watching you walk around the office, your face really irritates them. You're distracting them from doing really 'security guard' work. Go home, get a shower, and try to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow," She walked towards the elevator, turning around only once to glance at the consultant who waved at her before putting on his jacket.

As she drove home along the dark streets of Sacramento, she thought back to the paperwork waiting to be done. Those could wait. All she wanted to do now was to head home and relax. Everything else could wait till tomorrow.

Patrick Jane sat smiling on his couch that next day, watching his boss' reaction when she saw the new origami he had placed on her desk. Her eyes widened and she looked shocked in general. What was on her desk was a miniature version of Noah's ark. Animals were both on and off the big 'wooden' boat. This was what he had been planning all along. If anything could get her forgiveness, it was effort.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes:

This is my second fanfic! :D I'll be writing an oneshot for each episode. They would revolve around things that may have happened after each episode. xD I hope you enjoy this chapter! Do leave a review! Thank you!

Preview for chapter two:

S01E02: Red Hair and Silver Tape

_If there was one thing that everyone in the Serious Crime Unit were in awe about Teresa Lisbon, it was that she was able to take down men triple her size._


	2. S01E02: Red Hair & Silver Tape

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Mentalist.

Author's Notes: It's chapter 2. Red Hair and Silver Tape. Hope you enjoy! Do review! :3

~*~

S01E02: Red Hair & Silver Tape

If there was one thing that everyone in the Serious Crime Unit were in awe about Teresa Lisbon, it was that she was able to take down men triple her size. Her tackles were famous within the unit. Her ability to handle Patrick Jane was another thing that had the unit looking up to her. Before Jane was under her team, he was passed around through most parts of the CBI. From Organized Crime to Narcotics, passed on to Immigration and backed to Organized Crime again. Nobody wanted the blond troublemaker. Minelli gave in and took him under Serious Crimes, and the higher ups were pleased with him. He was pleased with himself too, when he dumped the guy on Lisbon who just got promoted. What a way to treat his best agent. But leadership was of key importance of being the boss of a team. Her work life became a mess. Formal complaints and paperwork increased in numbers. Jane had managed to insult suspects, get the family of victims extremely upset and caused uproar in the CBI. But her patience never seemed to wear thin, and it turned out that Jane would actually obey her.

He just wanted to show that he was good at reading people. So rock, scissors, paper was one way to prove it. It was amusing to watch, really. But watching the sheriff trying over and over again to kick Jane's ass was irritating. They had continued the game all the way to the victim's house, and that was about a forty-five minute drive. How old was the guy? Still acting like a five year old. He poked around the victim's room and came up with theory that the victim had a secret boyfriend whose name started with an 'H' who nobody in the family knew about. That just made searching for the guy _so much _easier_._

He was actually eating at the Shand Creek Winery. Question, not eating, she told him when they were alone. He grinned and nodded, clearly not listening to a word she said. As usual. She had to admit, sometimes, that he did speed up her work. Identifying who wrote the note was quickly settled, who knew the assistant chef would faint? Only Jane. So he was useful to the team. On occasion, that is. Getting the information for a timeline was easy, since the assistant chef was so cooperative. She wrote down the new information on the chalkboard and stared at it. It should be the secret boyfriend, she was sure of it. Van Pelt had called with more details about a similar case and suddenly, the consultant had a new theory about a killer obsessed with redheads and silver duct tape. Logical, maybe. Possible, doubt so.

They had found out who the victim's secret boyfriend was. It was obvious something was wrong. One moment, the person they were questioning claimed ignorance and in the next, she spilled the beans. Dammit, Jane had hypnotized her and Cho didn't do anything to stop him. Her authority would slowly be chipped away if this went on. Calling in Rigsby and Van Pelt, her team set out to bring in the boyfriend for questioning. And that didn't go well. He had ran after bursting out of a window and she had barely made it in time to catch to him. In a flash of black, he was on the ground and Lisbon had him in handcuffs.

The arrest of the boyfriend was nothing compared to questioning him though. He refused to say anything for the first ten minutes with her. Jane still believed that the killer was the obsessed psychopath, but she had enough evidence to charge Hector and close the case. They were having a light argument when Jane excused himself and left with the victim's younger brother.

He was gone for a long time. Not that she minded. No Jane meant having peace. She managed to clear some paperwork and got to read the report from Forensics. They had called to tell her that there were traces of blood of the victim in Hector's truck. She knew it was him from the start. The blonde consultant had finally returned from his trip and was telling her that he found something interesting and for her not to get angry.

"You can't make me angry," she had said. She knew she shouldn't have said that.

Turned out that the boyfriend might not have been the killer after all. Great, now they had to start all over again. Either that, or follow Jane's absurd theory. After a really misleading call by the blonde and an hour's drive, she was in a motel room with Jane watching her team go undercover. Without her prior knowledge. As he explained his plan, she had to resist the urge to hit him in the face. Whatever she had to do to shut him up. But they had nothing to lose, as he said. Why did she listen to him again?

His plan failed and she had to clean up the mess again. More paperwork, more problems. And he was the cause of it all. She was along the highway back to the sheriff's department when he called. She nearly snarled into her phone when she saw that it was the consultant calling. All she could hear was him saying "Do not move, do not move." Great, now he was in trouble. She did an illegal turn and sped back to the motel.

To save him, she killed two people today. It was necessary, but she still felt guilty. At the burial, Van Pelt expressed her thoughts about the psychotic killing couple. Jane had said that they were soul mates in a sick and twisted way. They killed one girl by accident, had nearly killed him and they were now dead. While walking back to the car, Jane placed a hand on her shoulder. She wanted to shrug it off, but she didn't. She needed it.

Sitting in her office, her frown deepened. More paperwork. Shoot a guy, fill in a form. She had to submit her gun for testing, she had a meeting with Minelli in an hour and she wanted to clear everything from her in tray by the end of shift. She hunched over her papers, writing ferociously. A knock on the door drew her attention away from them. Patrick Jane stood at her office door. He entered her office and stopped in front of her desk. They didn't say a word until he placed a bottle of red wine on the wooden surface.

"What's this, Jane?"" She placed her pen down, studying the label.

"Red wine."

She sighed. "I know it's red wine, Jane. I meant, what's this for?"

"It's for you. Lisbon. Like a thank you gift. To thank you for saving my life today. All that paperwork must be draining," she made a sound in agreement.

"I know you like red wine, you drink it to relax at home. So I thought I would get you a bottle. But you know, you wouldn't have to save my life if you had listened to me from the start. It seems fitting to say 'I told you so' right now," Upon seeing her smile melt into a grimace, Patrick Jane grinned and waved. He got the idea to not push it when Lisbon looked so murderously angry with him.


	3. S01E03: Red Tide

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Mentalist.

Author's Notes: It's chapter 3. The story of Red Tide. Mostly revolving around Lisbon from Jane's POV. Do enjoy and leave a review! Thank you.

~*~

S01E03: Red Tide

He noticed the change in Lisbon's mood throughout the day. At the start of the day, she was grumpy and half-asleep, seeing as she didn't have any coffee before she left for work. She wasn't smiling when she came in. Not that she had a huge grin plastered on her face every time she came in for work, but there was always a trace of a smile present. To make things worse nobody had programmed for coffee earlier that morning. Lisbon slammed the empty metal pot down, stomped out of the break room and slammed her office door shut. For the sake of the team and himself, he got off his couch and went down to the coffee cart nearby for a cup of strong black coffee. After finishing up three more cups of the coffee, that he went to get over and over again, she was back to normal.

Managing to convince Van Pelt to hide the keys of the SUV for his newest 'trick' was easy to do, because she wanted to prove that he really was psychic. He listened to Lisbon's briefing on the case while moving around with Van Pelt. When Lisbon asked him what he was doing, he told the team that Van Pelt was telling him where she had his the keys and if he found them, he got to drive. Lisbon hated it when he drove, which were rare occasions, simply because he drove too fast for her liking. But seriously, she was the one who drove too slowly for an enforcer of the law. The team watched him as he coaxed the redhead for details. Rigsby looked concerned and curious at what he was up to. Cho was tossing out explanations and excuses on how he would be able to locate the keys. Lisbon just looked amused and bored at his antics. After Van Pelt tried to mislead him to the keys, he walked out of the bullpen and dug them out from the potted plant. Grinning, he shook the keys.

"Who wants shotgun?" He watched as Cho and Rigsby packed up their equipment, Van Pelt joined them, smiling when Rigsby teased her. Lisbon shook her head and frowned.

"Can we go now?" The blonde consultant swung the keys around, pleased with himself. Lisbon grabbed the keys from him and told him that he was joining Rigsby and Cho to check out the crime scene. So much for driving, Rigsby had the keys for the other SUV in his pocket. Maybe he could reach in and lift them, maybe not. Driving was so much more fun with Lisbon around.

He spent slightly more than an hour trying to finish his sandcastle. It had been years since he last built one. His daughter loved the ocean; that was one of the reasons he got the house at Malibu. They would spend hours under the hot blazing sun making a kingdom of sand. Every castle with its own flag and unique design. He returned the bright green bucket to the little girl after he placed the leaf flag on his castle. It stood high and proud, applause sounded all around him. And there he was, the guy who knew Christine Tanner. Walking up to him, the blonde decided that small talk was a good way to get to know the guy, maybe get into his place. Lisbon would find him there. Surely.

If he was really good at one thing, it was playing chess. Having greeted Lisbon, who looked unamused that he was there; and there was Rigsby, who was surprised. He won the chess match. The interrogation was fun, the suspect really fit the profile. Too bad he wasn't the one who killed that 15-year-old girl. Something was off with his boss though, but he couldn't put a finger on it. Maybe he would bother her about it later. Suspect first, bosses later.

The loud commotion caught his attention. Lisbon had raised her voice, which she never did, even at him. Then she talked softly to the victim's father and watched as the broken family walked off. Her expression, however brief, implied that, in a way, she was suffering. He saw the look she gave Van Pelt, one of shock and anger and he knew someone else could give him an answer about what was going on. The redheaded agent was going to tell him everything.

Lisbon and him went off to find the victim's friends who had conveniently left out the fact that there was a party on the night Christine was killed. A quick question revealed all to him. He knew who did I, he just had to convince Lisbon and get some evidence. The visit to the construction site left him holding an ice bag to his nose while Minelli talked to Lisbon. Getting punched in the face wasn't the best idea to get the latest suspect brought in. After all, he won't say a word that could somehow incriminate himself to Cho. They weren't going to get anymore details but his alibi, but that was all Jane needed to put his plan in action.

Once again, he met with the four teenagers. He managed to convince them that hypnosis would help find out who the murderer was. Just as he suspected, one of them tried to be smart and gave up a detail that would confirm his suspicion. These four kids had killed their friend. When they each took turns to spin a new tale the next day, Patrick Jane had tied up the loose ends and they had closed the case. As he walked down the corridor to find the break room, he spotted Lisbon and the victim's father. She was holding out a card, unable to meet his eyes. When the father walked away, only then did she notice that her consultant was watching her. There was no sign of happiness, no smile on her face even if this case was closed. He had to find Van Pelt for some answers. He was really concerned about his boss. After all, no one else could understand her better than him.

Van Pelt had told him everything. About how Lisbon had tripped on the porch after questioning the victim's father. About how she raised the topic of Lisbon's other. About how she felt guilty that she was the one who started the issue of Lisbon's past. Comforting her, the blonde tried to recall what exactly happened to his boss in the past. He remembered Cho saying that Lisbon had younger brothers whom she had looked after since young, he also said something about an accident. Now he remembered. Lisbon had lost her mother to a car accident involving a drunk driver, she would have been around the age of ten then. Maybe that was the reason why she hated speeding. And she was talking to the victim's father before and he had reeked of cheap alcohol. A drunkard, simply put. There was a high chance that her father had become a drunk after her mother died. It was difficult not to. Which meant that Lisbon would be remembering all those times in her empty childhood, this case would have reminded her of that.

Pulling out the bottle of shells he collected from the beach, he walked into her office. He knocked before entering, it was a first. Lisbon looked up from her report, eyes bloodshot and puffy. She had been crying. He would cry if he could, but after all these years of guilt and self-loathing, tears would hardly form. He placed the bottle on her desk and was about to walk out of the office when he remembered something.

"Lisbon? The good memories will come back soon." There was nothing he could do to change her past, but he could put in some happiness in her life now. Cheering he up was a specialty of his.


	4. S01E04: Ladies In Red

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Mentalist.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the wait for Chapter 4. :\ Had a lot to do, so it was delayed. Hope you enjoy this chapter, do leave a review, thanks. :D

~*~

S01E04: Ladies In Red

The case was passed to them by Minelli with a strict order to close it quickly and without a fuss. So on the way to the crime scene, Lisbon had told him to behave in at least five different ways. She made it seem as though he was always causing trouble, but it wasn't always his fault that things could go wrong. She just liked to overreact, that's all. The inspector who received them won't pleased that the CBI was called in, and she wasn't happy about his stand that Jason Sands was still in his ransacked study. Picking up the little remote and quickly typing in a couple of top pass-codes choices, Jane explained his actions to the rest. Lisbon had seemed amused that he was punching in random numbers. But when the door to the safe-room opened, that amusement became seriousness and faded to disappointment when they found the body of Jason Sands.

The team stood in a row, observing the ongoing funeral. There was a possibility that the person who had tortured the poor man would be at the funeral, but no one stood out. Rigsby seemed to doubt it, but Jane told him to picture the large amount of people in front of them naked and ravenously hungry, which earned him a disgusted 'ew' from Van Pelt. He spotted something off with the lawyer and the widowed Mrs Sands, pointed it out to the team. He didn't get anything useful apart from that though. The two females left to go through the victim's computer files, hoping to find something. He earned a dollar from Rigsby with the promise of 'the secret of seduction', which led to a bet and him hitting on the widow. Lisbon was going to be pissed, but a hundred dollars and more were at stake here.

Getting told off by Minelli wasn't what he expected as a reaction from the widow. Lisbon glared at him while they were being lectured. It was full of promise for a day of ignoring and being irritable. He was a responsible person, he took care of things and admitted to mistakes he had made. In fact, he was claiming responsibility for the incident with Jennifer Sands. He grinned sa his bosses before leaving the break-room. He doubted Minelli needed to know that he took off the labels from the coffee pot, simply to reduce the amount of caffeine consumed by the unit and to annoy Lisbon.

The visit to the widow got him the information he needed for the investigation to proceed. Jason Sands was broke for years, but the ten million dollars in his personal account was interesting to look at, seeing as it was withdrawn a few months back. The team reckoned that the wife had the money, but he told them that she was penniless. They looked at him funnily and Lisbon asked if he was soft on Jennifer Sands. A slight flash of hurt appeared on her face when he said he was. Huh, she was worried. He relaxed back on his couch, shutting out everything else as he planned his course of action.

That night, Cho, Lisbon and him went to check out their new lead. Jason Sands' boat was the address for his private company. Quietly, they proceeded on the boat. He followed Lisbon closely, looking around at the tossed cushions and knocked down items. Deciding that there was no need for his presence on the boat any longer, he told Lisbon that he would be at the docks only to turn around to see a gun pointed at him. Risky business, police work. Lisbon came just in time to save his back again, not that he couldn't talk himself out of the situation. Back at the headquarters, Lisbon and Van Pelt were questioning Adrianna who just looked at them, clearly bored. Van Pelt got sent out and he took her seat. Adrianna had assumed he was gay, maybe it was the suit. He heard Lisbon choke back her laugh. The suspect had given them names. For a mistress, she cared for the little girl of the Sands' residence dearly. Lisbon had let her go, much to Rigsby's disbelief. He smiled at Lisbon when she said that there was no point in holding her in for pointing a gun at the consultant. He bet she thought he deserved it after the trouble he had caused her. Picking up his jacket, he announced that he was going to visit the widow again.

He was upset when he realised that the widow was the one who had done it, all for the sake of money. He hid his disappointment well as he spoke to her. The real shock came to her face when she found out her dead husband had another woman by his side. When she asked him if he could hold her, he was sorely tempted. How long has it been since he held a woman in his arms? Five years? He glanced at his wedding ring, remembering the vows that he had made on that day and said 'no'. as he sat looking out of the window, he blocked out the memories that came rushing back to him. His wife would have loved this house. Too bad, it was going to be put on sale soon.

When he walked into the Serious Crimes Unit, he spotted Rigsby retelling the tale of the arrest he just made and bragging to the others about being paired up with Van Pelt. He caught sight of the consultant and invited him over for his unfinished reenactment. Jane politely declined and when to the interrogation rooms. The two man that Adrianna gave them were dead ends, no point questioning them for more information. Then he got the call saying that Julie Sands had been kidnapped. Lisbon and him rushed over straight away.

They successfully found the girl and got her back. She was being kept in the hospital under observation, the Sands' lawyer was still in surgery which the doctors predict he won't make it out alive. He had another plan to unveil who the accomplice was, so he sent Lisbon to inform Minelli. He sat at Julie's little wooden table, waiting for the plan to unfold. Soon enough, Jennifer Sands rushed back and ransacked her daughter's toy box. He had her confessing, relayed the confession to Lisbon through a phone call. Imagine, torturing your husband for money. That was one thing he would never understand. He pointed out the location of the ten million dollars worth of diamonds hidden in the chandelier dangling over their heads.

Now he owed Rigsby a hundred dollars, but it was worth it. The diamonds and Julie were in the care of Adrianna, and they should be on their way to a little island now. Everything was settled. He looked through the shelves of the children's section of the nearby bookstore. Grinning, he pulled out a story book and brought it to the cashier. Lisbon would love this gift.

Lisbon ignored the footsteps that approached her desk. Only one person would enter without knocking and that was their one and only irritating consultant. He place a book on top of the report she was writing and waited at her. As she read the title, she held back a smile. It was Peter and the Wolf. He grinned and left her office.


End file.
